A sweeping, dramatic history of capitalism as seen through the eyes of its fiercest critics
At a time when we are faced with fundamental questions about the sustainability and morality of the economic system, Capitalism and Its Critics provides a kaleidoscopic history of global capitalism, from colonialism and the Industrial Revolution to the ecological crisis and artificial intelligence.
John Cassidy adopts a bold new approach- he tells the story through the eyes of the system's critics. From eighteenth-century weavers who rebelled against early factory automation to Eric Williams's paradigm-changing work on slavery and capitalism, to the Latin American dependistas, the international Wages for Housework campaign of the 1970s, and the modern degrowth movement, this absorbing narrative traverses the globe. It looks at familiar figures - Smith, Marx, Luxemburg, Keynes, Polanyi - from a fresh perspective, but also focuses on many less familiar, including William Thompson, the Irish proto-socialist whose work influenced Marx; Flora Tristan, the French proponent of a universal labour union; John Hobson, the original theorist of imperialism; and J. C. Kumarappa, the Indian exponent of Gandhian economics.
Blending biography, panoramic history, and lively exploration of economic theories, Capitalism and Its Critics illuminates the deep roots of many of the most urgent issues of our time.
About the Author
John Cassidy is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Dot.con- The Greatest Story Ever Sold and How Markets Fail, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction.
Industry Reviews
Fascinating and informative. The history of capitalism is told through the eyes and legitimate concerns of its most articulate critics. This is intellectual history at its best. Essential reading for anyone who wonders how the modern world wandered off course
-- Simon Johnson, winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize for Economics and co-author of Power and Progress
John Cassidy’s Capitalism and Its Critics is an impressive history of arguments about capitalism, from the industrial age to our time. Clear and accessible, it is an invaluable touchstone for current debates about economic renewal in our post-globalization moment
-- Michael J. Sandel, author of The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?
Capitalism and its Critics [is an] unexpectedly lively romp through the two-and-a-half-century history of capitalism ... a zombie tale in which the mystery is why capitalism, having so many ill-wishers and so many chronic health problems, keeps rising anew from each crisis – be it the 1930s Great Depression or 2008 financial crisis – even stronger and more resilient. Cassidy ... offers gripping analyses of socialist communes, slavery, imperialism and monetarism; he takes us to the heart of such topical questions as whether tariffs are folly, as laissez-faire orthodoxy suggests, or essential to making America great again, as Donald Trump insists ... I predict it’ll become the intelligent beach read of the summer
-- Stuart Jeffries, Telegraph
An intriguing account of how some of the most consequential ideas in economics developed, and how they forged the modern world…Several enjoyable evenings might be spent with Netflix off and Mr Cassidy’s new book open
-- Economist
A marvellously lucid overview of capitalism’s critics, written in good old-fashioned expository prose
-- Pratinav Anil, Guardian
Cassidy's range is impressive ... [he] makes the history of capitalism digestible by weaving together, in each chapter, the biography of each of his subjects with their key critique of capitalism, thus humanising otherwise dry debates about economic theory
-- Yuan Yi Zhu, The Times
